Narco-Deforestation, a newly coined term for the destruction
of sensitive forest ecologies in Central and South America has been identified
as a greater threat to the South and Central American forests than other
previously identified concerns such as legal logging and development. The drug traffickers are creating new autoroutes
and airplane strips for greater access to and through the forests and jungles
of the Central and South America. These
new routes make it easier to transport drugs from Mexico to South America and
vice-versa.

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Kendra
McSweeney, the co-author of "Drug Policy as Conservation Policy:
Narco-Deforestation" explains, "These protected ecological zones have
become the hub for South American cocaine."

As
an example, the Río Plátano Biosphere Reserve, a Unesco world heritage site in Honduras
was destroyed. The narco-deforestation trends were preceded by illegal logging
practices in the region. Both now play a large role in the destruction of
Central America’s biodiversity. The logging industry makes up "20 percent of
the total volume removed from tropical forests, but only a third is
exported." This logging activity is documented and legal; imagine the
consequences of illegal logging activities.

The
Cockroach Effect

While
Mexico serves as a type of nucleus for drug activity, authorities have started
cracking down on the illegal activities. These new challenges and crackdowns
have pushed the activity down south and resulted in the efecto cucaracha, or
the cockroach effect. Similar to a cockroach’s "survival instincts," if it's
driven away from one home, it will find another — and that just happens to be
Central America. Guatemala, Nicaragua and Honduras have been particularly
targeted by the cockroach effect.

It's
not a coincidence. For example, when former Mexican president Felipe Calderón
took a more proactive approach to cracking down on drugs in Mexico, Guatemala’s
deforestation increased between 5 and 10 percent.

The
Costs of Deforestation

What
are we losing when the forest is destroyed? Cultural Survival lists some of the
costs of deforestation:

—
Wood

—
Agriculture

—
Food

—
Medicine

—
Genetic diversity

—
Climate

—
Habitat (human and animal)

—
Culture

More
Ways Narco-Deforestation Destroys Forests

If
you didn't think it could get worse, then think again. Drug traffickers are also
taking their illegal profits and investing in cattle ranches and palm oil
plants. In addition, narco-deforestation threatens indigenous communities
living in the forests.